Carla Gonçalves Borges (Partner) writes an article for Forbes Portugal entitled "Ode to Arbitration (for a change)", to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Voluntary Arbitration Law, approved by Law No 63/2011 of 14 December ("LAV 2011"), a milestone in the development of arbitration in Portugal, and mark the success of this means of dispute resolution in Portugal.
"The reasons that typically determine the parties' choice of arbitration, to the detriment of state courts, are the greater speed, the possibility for the parties to choose arbitrators with the most suitable profile for the characteristics of the dispute and the flexibility and efficiency associated with the possibility of adapting the proceedings to the characteristics of the dispute. In international cases, arbitration also has the advantage of neutrality in relation to the courts of any of the States involved in the dispute. On the contrary, the idea that the costs of the arbitration route are higher than those of state jurisdiction is typically a deterrent to this choice, notwithstanding the fact that currently it is clear that, in high-value cases, the value of arbitration fees may even be lower than the value of court fees in Portuguese state courts."
Read the article here.